The FIA and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest confirmed in Imola that the weight, power, and energy values assigned to each Hypercar will no longer be made public starting this season. The numbers will continue to exist and will continue to be given to teams under confidentiality agreements, but the press, fans, and rival manufacturers themselves will no longer have access to the numerical details of the balance of performance applied each weekend.

The news was communicated by Bruno Famin, deputy racing director of the ACO, and Marek Nawarecki, FIA circuit sports director, during a press meeting held at the Italian circuit ahead of the 6 Hours of Imola.

Why it remains a black box

When asked how the Le Mans BoP will be calculated this year, Famin replied that the regulators prefer to keep it as a black box, an expression that summarizes the stance adopted regarding a system which, as they explained in Imola, produces erroneous readings when analyzed without full access to the variables that feed it.

The official reasoning relies on the homologation parameters, i.e., the aerodynamic, weight, center of gravity, fuel consumption, and engine type characteristics that are defined when each car enters the championship and which, according to Famin, will never be made public for confidentiality reasons. Nawarecki argued that informing the public about specific weight differences between cars leads to misinterpretations because fans and the press lack the complete data that regulators work with, and Famin reinforced that idea by stating that without the homologation parameters, the evolution of the BoP cannot be understood, so the choice between publishing a table without explanatory support or not publishing it was resolved in favor of the latter.

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Le Mans and the fear of sandbagging

The 2026 calendar has eight rounds, and between the season opener at Imola and the Spa-Francorchamps round, there are only two events before the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Famin was explicit in pointing out that the regulators' concern is aimed at those first two races, expressing fear that a manufacturer might assume the existence of a rolling BoP that carries data from Imola and Spa into the calculation applied at La Sarthe, something Famin himself linked to the risk of sandbagging in the European events prior to the big event of the year.

Regarding whether La Sarthe will have an independent BoP, as in previous editions, or whether it will be integrated into the moving average system that uses data from previous races, Famin refused to give details and justified the secrecy by stating that they prefer manufacturers not to know how the balance will work for the French classic. The same logic of opacity applied to the public extends, in this case, to the teams competing in the championship.

The calculation remains the same; what changes is communication

Although communication changes radically, the calculation mechanism remains the same as in 2025, built on two layers that combine the homologation parameters defined at the start of each car's cycle with a subsequent adjustment based on recent race data, over a moving window that last year underwent successive adjustments in its number of reference events. Famin confirmed that this architecture continues, although he did not specify what exact values will feed the algorithm this season.

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Genesis, the ninth manufacturer debuting at Imola with the GMR-001, enters the system with the same treatment that Aston Martin received in 2025, so its initial BoP is calculated using the fastest car from each previous race as a reference until the Korean model accumulates enough kilometers for its own data to replace that extrapolation. All Hypercars returned to the wind tunnel over the winter for a new homologation, although Nawarecki downplayed the impact on the balance of the grid by stating that the differences from last year are limited because the regulations leave little room for maneuver. The introduction of the new Michelin tire range is also not considered a sufficient factor to discard historical data from 2025, which will continue to feed the starting algorithm.

The complaints accumulated by the BoP in 2025

Toyota was the manufacturer that most harshly exposed the limitations of the system during 2025, beyond Floury's prediction about São Paulo. The same technical director described the season as truly sad due to the artificiality of the sporting result and urgently asked the FIA, the ACO, and the manufacturers to rethink the very meaning of the championship, a request backed by the Japanese brand's worst year in the category and by finishing fourth in the manufacturers' standings eighty points behind the leader.

Peugeot experienced its own version of the problem at Le Mans 2025 when it received the most unfavorable power-to-weight ratio on the grid and saw its two 9X8s qualify at the back after having been competitive just one week earlier at Spa-Francorchamps. Jean-Marc Finot, vice president of Stellantis Motorsport, then called for the need to find a system that was fair to everyone, and Jean-Éric Vergne described the experience as difficult moments that build character without hiding the team's frustration.

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Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes in Formula 1, added from outside the championship a position that conditions any return of the three-pointed star to Le Mans, reiterating that the German manufacturer will not enter the WEC without a change to the current system and proposing to replace it with a cost cap similar to that of the premier category of motorsport.

Ferrari itself, which dominated much of the season, was able to win convincingly at several rounds and ended up outside the top three in São Paulo within the same year, reinforcing the perception that algorithm adjustments produced fluctuations impossible to explain solely by sporting performance.

Regarding whether the publication policy will return in the future, Famin opened the door to reconsidering the measure without committing to any timeline, so manufacturers start the 2026 season this weekend at Imola with no one outside the WEC bubble knowing how much weight each car carries or with how much power it runs.